Jason Garey scored two goals tonight to lift the Columbus Crew over visiting Real Salt Lake by a 3-1 scoreline. The victory goes some way toward avenging the Crew's 1-4 loss earlier this season, their worst of the campaign so far. With the win, the Crew temporarily climb into a tie with DC United for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Both teams entered the game missing some critical players due to injuries and the ongoing CONCACAF Gold Cup. Real Salt Lake played without Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson, and Fabian Espindola. Meanwhile, Columbus played without not only Chad Marshall and Robbie Rogers (away with the US National Team) but also the injured Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno.

With the team's two leading scorers absent, Columbus coach Robert Warzycha turned to both of his reserve forwards, giving Steven Lenhart and Jason Garey their second and fourth starts of the season, respectively. Kiwi midfielder Duncan Oughton earned his first start in more than a year as well, lining up on the Crew's right flank.

Both teams pressed forward through the first 20 minutes of the game, but neither was able to create a truly dangerous attacking chance. The Crew spent most of their effort looking up their left flank via Eddie Gaven, while Real Salt Lake searched for Javier Morales. One of the more dangerous chances came via a deflected shot from the boot of Danny O'Rourke, but Nick Rimando was able to leap to his crossbar and tip the ball out of play before it snuck into the goal in the 16th minute.

Fans of Real Salt Lake will undoubtedly feel hard done by the events of the 20th minute. Running in from the Crew's left flank, Yura Movsisyan dribbled into the box, got past Andy Iro far too easily, and cut inside Gino Padula to gain an open look at William Hesmer. Padula stayed with the play, however, and under the Argentine's attention Movsisyan went down as he approached the sprawling Hesmer. The ball rolled to Hesmer as Movsisyan sat on the ground wondering why no foul had been called.

As happens so frequently in soccer, that missed opportunity shifted the momentum of the game in the opposite direction, and three minutes later the Crew opened the scoring. The play begain with Duncan Oughton on the right flank, playing the ball up the right touchline for the run of Frankie Hejduk. Hejduk ran almost to the end line before sending in a low, hard cross at the top of the 6-yard box. Central defender Jamison Olave was able to get a foot on the ball to cut it off from Jason Garey, but his touch only laid the ball off into space inside the penalty area. Fellow centerback Nat Borchers tried to get to the loose ball, but his desperation slide was just too late; Crew forward Steven Lenhart was first to the ball, slamming home a shot that tucked inside the far post.

Real Salt Lake played with added energy for a few minutes following the Crew goal, pinging passes around the midfield with good pace and efficiency. Unfortunately for the visitors, they were unable to generate a legitimate shot until after the Crew had doubled their advantage.

The game's second goal was easily its most controversial. Standing at the goal line, both Steven Lenhart and Nick Rimando leapt for a high ball that had been headed goalward from the top of the penalty area. Lenhart won the battle as Rimando crumpled to the ground holding his face, and the ball rolled to Jason Garey. Garey made no mistake from two yards out, slamming the ball home past a pair of defenders on the goal line. Rimando and several players screamed at the referee for not calling a foul on the play, pointing to Rimando's bloody nose, but the goal was allowed to stand.

"I'd better watch the tape before I comment", said Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis after the game, "because for me, when your goalkeeper stands up and has got a bloody nose, you're questioning why its not a foul."

The circumstances of the second goal gave the game a bit of a physical edge through the rest of the first half. Ned Grabavoy was cautioned in the 34th minute for hip checking the leaping Danny O'Rourke before jumping for the loose ball himself, and Javier Morales almost joined his teammate after speaking frankly to referee Abbey Okulaja. Two minutes later, Morales was fouled at the midfield stripe by Danny O'Rourke, but not hard enough to join his fellow Hoosier in the referee's notebook.

The last noteworthy scoring chance of the first half came from some creative play from Javier Morales. The dynamic midfielder flicked the ball over his own shoulder to beat his defender, and ran at the Crew back line. Drawing the attention of a crowd of players, Morales slid the ball across to the waiting Clint Mathis near the top of the box. Mathis got off a very solid shot that was aiming for Hesmer's left post, but the Crew goalkeeper was able to slide to his left and grab the ball without giving up a rebound.

Real Salt Lake started making substitutions at halftime, bringing on newly-acquired forward Pablo Campos in relief of wingback Tony Beltran. Despite this change, however, it was the Crew who started more brightly in the second half. Three times in the first five minutes, the Crew reached the edge of the penalty area, although they were never able to get off a shot.

The game's third goal threatened to put the game out of reach for Real Salt Lake. Duncan Oughton played a low ball foward from the right flank for Steven Lenhart; the Crew forward ran across the ball and back-heeled it across to a waiting Jason Garey. Garey's first touch took him past Jamison Olave and into a 1-on-1 with Nick Rimando. Garey made no mistake, blasting a hard shot that skipped under Rimando's right foot before finding the net.

Real Salt Lake appeared to take the scoring of the third goal personally, and started pouring forward in earnest, looking for some way to claw back into the game. Sometimes, as in the 57th minute, the Crew defense just managed to hold without allowing the visitors to get a shot on goal - Eric Brunner's timely toe-poke saved him from being caught out of position and too far upfield.

Other times, the back line appeared to break at the edges, allowing Yura Movsisyan to prowl around the edge of the Crew back line and look for openings through which he might sneak. This pattern of attack almost proved disastrous for the Crew in the 63rd minute, but Movsisyan's close range shot to the near post missed wide after the Denmark-bound forward had run a large circle around the Crew back line, ending up shooting at Hesmer's right post.

Another player crucial to RSL's second-half renaissance was Clint Mathis. The midfielder found himself several times in dangerous positions, and his shots - in the 61st and 68th minute, each forced William Hesmer to stay on his toes to keep the shutout intact.

The vistiors' clearest scoring opportunity of the game came in the 71st minute. Yura Movsisyan timed a run from the far post perfectly, ghosting past Andy Iro and on to a well-played through ball at the top of the area. With only Hesmer to beat, however, Movsisyan chose to shoot high - and drilled his ferocious shot off the top of the crossbar.

For all the productivity of Yura Movsisyan and Clinit Mathis, however, it was second-half substitute Raphael Cox who woudl get Real Salt Lake on the board, in the 76th minute. Cox took possession of the ball around the Crew's penalty spot, turned, and shot low through a number of Crew defenders' legs. Even William Hesmer was nutmegged in the process, having been screened from seeing the shot by the players in front of him.

Shortly after the goal, the Crew started to make personnel changes of their own. Steven Lenhart picked up a knock in the 78th minute, the result of close physical attention from Jamison Olave and others. He was replaced by Kevin Burns, allowing the Crew to shift slightly into a five-man midfield with only Jason Garey as a lone forward. In the 84th minute, then, Warzycha inserted Jed Zayner for Garey, and directed Eddie Gaven to move into the single-forward role. Zayner, meanwhile, played Gaven's usual left flank position.

While Real Salt Lake continued to circle around the Crew's defenses, they proved unable to find the second goal which would have set up a very tense ending indeed. The Crew's performance would never be compared favorably with the catenaccio of the Italians, or even a penalty kill in the NHL, but it proved effective at - somehow - preventing Real Salt Lake from creating any more legitimate scoring threats. The match ended at its 3-1 scoreline.

What It Means

With tonight's victory, the Crew improved to 6-3-9 on the season. They stand in a 2-way tie for second place in the Eastern Conference, level with DC United - who also won by a 3-1 scoreline over Colorado. Chicago's victory over San Jose leaves them unchanged on the Eastern Conference pedestal, but Toronto only managing to scrape a draw in their match leaves them withh 26 points to Columbus' and DC's 27.

What Comes Next 

The Crew's next league match will come next Saturday, against Toronto FC. Following that match, the team hits the road for games against Colorado and San Jose; their return from the west cost is scheduled for Saturday, August 15th against FC Dallas. Following that match the team will begin play in the CONCACAF Champions League, against a pool of opponents who have not been completely determined.